266 The Field Naturalist's Quarterly August 



illustrated by some 44 full-page illustrations from photographs and 

 drawings. As usual in this society the papers are of great interest 

 and high merit, and testify to a large amount of good work done by the 

 members, as well as to great care and labour on the part of the 

 secretary and editorial committee. One of the most interesting con- 

 tributions is that by the Dean of Hereford, on "Some Archives and 

 Seals of Hereford Cathedral," with photographs by Alfred Watkins. 

 Another paper of interest to Herefordians especially is that by Mr. 

 Carless on " Hereford City Insignia and Plate." In addition to a 

 number of archaeological papers of great local interest, there are papers 

 on various points in the entomology, ornithology, ophiology, geology, 

 botany, and meteorology of the county. The volume is most tastefully 

 got up, and is a valuable one from every point of view. The report of 

 the assistant-secretary for 1902 showed an increase in number of 

 members and income, attaining a record. The membership was 240, 

 including 20 new members. 



We have received the Annual Report and Transactions of the North 

 Staffordshire Field Club (1902-1903, vol. xxxvii.). It shows a member- 

 ship of 461, a most gratifying state of affairs. Of the papers contributed 

 we specially wish to refer to one, that on " Heredity and Evolution," by 

 Mr. H. C. Reeve. Our readers are aware that we have been contend- 

 ing in this journal that it is the duty of field club officials to see that 

 great questions of biological significance are brought before members 

 for instruction and discussion, and our correspondence columns have 

 borne testimony to the wishes of field naturalists themselves in this 

 matter. It is therefore with great pleasure that we find this society 

 discussing a paper of this kind, and we are quite sure that it must have 

 been one of the most interesting meetings of the year. In the zoology 

 section Mr. Masefield draws attention to the results of Mr. Adams' 

 investigations into the structure of the mole's fortress, which show that 

 no two of these fortresses are alike in construction, and not one tallies 

 with the time-honoured and symmetrical figure of St. Hilaire. Mr. 

 Adams concludes also that the mole has only one litter annually, 

 between the latter part of January and the end of April, though occa- 

 sional litters are born in August and September. 



The Manchester Field Naturalists' and Archaeologists' Society 

 have issued their Report and Proceedings for 1902, the forty-third year 

 of the society. They are edited by Mr. Leo H. Grindon, who records 

 "the unbroken happy life of the society, and the consistency and 

 success with which its objects have been followed up." Those objects 

 are set forth as being an endeavour " to diffuse and encourage earnest 

 and intelligent love and interest in the simple and common " things 

 which are around us, rather than research in departments of science. 

 As a society we think the objects are exactly what they should be, 

 research is for the individual, the diffusion of knowledge for the club. 

 The membership is returned at 192, and the excursions were well attended. 



